Priests and the Authority to Forgive Sins

 The Catholic Church’s teaching that priests can forgive sins is not based on human authority, but on the words of Christ Himself. 

In John 20:21–23, the risen Jesus appears to His apostles and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” This is not symbolic language. Christ gives His apostles real authority to forgive and retain sins. He says that He is sending the apostles as the Father had sent Him. The word "send" here refers to being sent with the full authority of the sender, which includes the authority to forgive sins.

This ministry of reconciliation is further affirmed in 2 Corinthians 5:18, where St. Paul writes, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” The apostles, and by extension their successors, are entrusted with carrying out this sacred work.

James 5:14–16 also instructs the faithful to call upon the elders (presbyters or priests) of the Church in times of illness and to “confess your sins to one another,” linking confession to the pastoral care of ordained ministers.

The Written & Oral Tradition

The belief in the authority of both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition is not a later invention—it is rooted in Scripture itself.

St. Paul exhorts the Thessalonians, “So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter” (2 Thessalonians 2:15). Here, apostolic teaching is presented in two forms: written and oral. Both are to be received and upheld with equal fidelity.

Christ did not commission the apostles to write books, but to “make disciples of all nations… teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19–20). The written New Testament emerged from this living tradition of teaching, guarded and passed on by the Church.

Thus, Sacred Tradition is not separate from Scripture but intimately united with it. It is through both that the fullness of the apostolic faith is handed down, as intended by Christ and confirmed by His Word.